ClumsyMonkey.net

The New Book Banning

I'm really upset by this. Anyone in the States know how I would find out what rep to contact? I'm not good at the branches of the government but I want to speak up because this is completely insane and completely pathetic.

This.
http://consumerist.com/5143226/consumer ... f-the-cpsc

Although, to clarify it's an act that imposes regulations for testing on all childrens toys for lead. So it's not so much a book banning... as it's too fucking retarded to test every book in a book store for lead.

Right, but it essentially becomes a banning because these stores can't afford to check all their books for lead, and therefore will end up either discarding half their inventory or being fined and brought up on charges for selling "illegal" goods.

How ridiculous.

Yeah, but the CPSC is allegedly way too underfunded to implement this program efficiently, so they really have no way to enforce the rules. They can't afford to inspect small individual stores. Kind of ironic, isn't it.

Annnnd still not really a banning. Those books just can't be sold in stores or be in libraries.

We do so many recalls on a daily basis now, it sucks. However, I'd rather not poison somebody's kid.

The paint in children's books is essentially non-toxic. The amount of lead in it is so miniscule that the kid would probably have to eat the entire book to get sick.

Then it looks like I'm in trouble.

Yeah. I can see the bullshit part of this; however, I can also see what they're getting at. Lead is becoming a huge deal. Thank you China for fucking our world up!!!

And sadly I also know plenty of kids that chew on books. I could dig up photos of my cousin's kid. He loves munching on books. Maybe he shouldn't anymore.

There's nothing wrong with eating books, he's just trying to keep the knowledge within him.

I'm sure the books those kids chew on are relatively new, though, right? Or are you giving them 24-year-old books to chew on regularly?

Like I said, the amount of lead contained in the ink in the pictures of these books is not enough to harm a child. They're just taking it WAAAAAY overboard.

Tis time for a good ol'fashioned book burning!

I understand your argument Megan. Thing is the subject matter of this issue is involving lead. China and their fucking lead toys issue really fucked things up. People are horrifically scared of lead now.

The CPSC is just doing what they can afford and manage to do. Really. This is their only option. Unless somebody truely steps up and takes control. It's inevitable.

Blame China. My motto for the moment.

Oh this is sad. But I can understand it, somewhat. Safety's more important, even if it is a bit extreme. But ugh, poor books.

lead is removed from the body at a very very slow rate so its not a "specific" dosage per se that is the problem but long-term it just keeps adding up (for all intents and purposes it bio-accumulates).. throw in the fact that the detrimental effects of lead accumulation and all that in children is severe and the levels needed to get to that is rather small, as much as it sucks and as much as i personally dont like it.. i agree with the ban given the potential longterm ramifications.

an interesting fact:
The U.S. incurs $43.4 billion annually in the costs of all pediatric environmental disease, with childhood lead poisoning alone accounting for the vast majority of it.
(source: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/lead/pbwhere_found2.html)

From the article:

This doesn’t mean that the books pose any hazard to children. While lead poisoning from other sources, such as paint in old houses, remains a serious public health problem in some communities, no one seems to have been able to produce a single instance in which an American child has been made ill by the lead in old book illustrations—not surprisingly, since unlike poorly maintained wall paint, book pigments do not tend to flake off in large lead-laden chips for toddlers to put into their mouths.

To me, that sounds like the miniscule amounts of lead in the ink in children's books is harmless, therefore preventing the sale of children's books (by requiring stores to test them or get rid of them) printed pre-1985 is way overboard. There needs to be another alternative to making the sale of these books illegal unless they are tested. A lot of priceless books will end up in the garbage, all over something that's never harmed a child anyway.

MindsOnLoan wrote:There's nothing wrong with eating books, he's just trying to keep the knowledge within him.

yeah i started with that, then moved onto audio cassette tapes. I wanted to be a musician, so i wanted to feel the music within me! unfortunately all I felt was intestinal bleeding due to the cassette tape getting all tangled and cutting into my innards.

So in the end, did you make crappy music?

Your Rep in Congress:
http://tonko.house.gov/contact/index.shtml

xjsb125 wrote:So in the end, did you make crappy music?

my explanation would've been much more graphic!

It seems that all these resellers have to do, is call the older books collector's items and put them in dust jackets with a sticker that says "FUCK the CPSC" -- just to make sure nobody thinks they're intended for children.